


Magical Dudley (Or what happened after Vernon was killed)

by 5972OltonHall



Series: Serpentus Connexio [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: A new magical form (Ogre), Boa Constrictor escape (HP flash back mention), F/M, Gen, Some HP characters have only minor mentions.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 11:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30003861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5972OltonHall/pseuds/5972OltonHall
Summary: The deaths of Vernon and Petunia Dursley were, just as the rest of their lives had been, unfortunate, but ordinary and that was that – or so it seemed on the surface. Vernon’s death was to prove to be just a beginning……Set in 2019, pre-COVID, we join Harry Potter who is now 38 years old and has been heading the Auror service for the last twelve years. Peter Grant of the Metropolitan Police service has been promoted to a DS. This story which concludes the Vernon Chronicles, incorporates back story references to content of Serpentus Connexio set in 1991.Spoiler alerts/canon divergencesCanon – HP: If there are conflicts with content from the dratted Epilogue & Harry Potter & The Cursed Child then so be it.Canon – RoL: It was originally drafted prior to the, then, predicted Autumn 2019 release of False Values (Ben Aaronovitch).
Relationships: Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Petunia Evans Dursley/Vernon Dursley
Series: Serpentus Connexio [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1357891
Kudos: 4





	1. Harry takes a case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reported outbreak of unauthorised magic in Little Whinging gets pushed up the line to Harry Potter, now Minister of Magic. However much he dreads getting sucked in this case desperately needs his involvement....

The deaths of Vernon and Petunia Dudley were, just as the rest of their lives had been, unfortunate, but ordinary. It was a case for them of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Walking back from the village pub, on what had been an otherwise uneventful evening, a drunk driver took the corner into Wisteria Drive too fast, mounted the footway and ran them down. Notwithstanding the fact the driver neither stopped, nor called an ambulance, the hit and run merited just a couple of column inches in the local newspaper, and that was that – or so it seemed on the surface. 

* * *

The coverage of the deaths was minimal and localised. The result was that Harry Potter did not find out until several months after their funerals had been held that his Aunt and Uncle had both been killed. Whether, had he known of them, he could have brought himself to attend either funeral, was something he would now never know. 

The war had changed him; deep down he knew that he would probably have gone to Aunt Petunia’s, even if attendance would just have been for his mother’s sake. If there is an afterlife it might have given Lily vicarious closure to her split from Petunia, it would also have been an ideal first step in trying to mend bridges with his cousin. However, as to attending Vernon’s he instinctively knew that realistically he could not have brought himself to have gone to that. It troubled him greatly that he’d missed Petunia’s funeral and also that he wasn’t actually sorry that Vernon was dead.

Conversely, Harry’s cousin Dudley, for his part, desperately wanted the option for contact, to say sorry and make peace. His time on the run hiding from Voldemort and the Death Eaters had changed him. Thanks to the Statute of Secrecy, and despite being recorded on the wizarding world’s war veteran register, he was also classed as a muggle. As far as the Ministry was concerned his full knowledge of the existence of the wizarding world was to be ignored, rules were rules, muggles were muggles first, second and last, with no exceptions. That therefore meant Dudley was isolated with no means of again making contact with his cousin. 

* * *

As it was Harry found out about the accident that had killed his Uncle and Aunt through a case which had been passed over to the Auror Service as a matter of routine. There had been several unexplained outbursts of magic in, and around, Little Whinging and in the normal run of things that would have not merited the input of the Head of Service. 

Initially it hadn’t. The tests run by the preliminary investigation team on-site in the village established it appeared to be accidental magic, no problem usually arose with that, it could usually be traced to under elevens in the area. The problem was the tests were showing anomalies that suggested this was accidental magic, but not accidental magic by an under-eleven. Further checks then established that, currently, there were no records of under-elevens with magical potential living within five miles of Little Whinging; the registers covered muggle-born children as well as those from magical families. The Ministry even contacted Hogwarts School to cross-check for errors, they found that their own records tallied with the Hogwarts admission list; both sets of records confirming no children were likely to have been the cause.

That finding quickly resulted in a steady progression of the file upwards through the levels of seniority. The junior in the Unauthorised Use of Magic Response Team had done the due diligence required, it was now a hot file. The past association of their overall boss with Little Whinging meant as the file reached each successive tier of responsibility, it got read, and then off-loaded further up the chain of command as quickly as possible until it finally landed on the desk of the Deputy Head of the MLE, Ron Weasley. Ron immediately faced a dilemma. His wife, Hermione Weasley-Granger, was the Minister of Magic and these incidents appeared to show the Auror Service as incompetent, unable to resolve a bit of odd-ball magic. He realised something had to be done before she found out about it, but what was he to do? 

Taking the file he walked nervously down the corridor to Harry Potter’s office. He’d known Harry since they were both eleven, as well as being his boss Harry was also his brother-in-law. This was going to be tricky. Bouncing a case up the last step to the Head was not to be taken lightly. Most Head Aurors before Harry had rarely, if ever done their own fieldwork, the portraits on the office wall featured centuries of confirmed, isolationist, desk-pilots, but Harry had modernised the service. The Head was no longer just a political figurehead, the role was now part of the active investigative team, with a separate executive section liaising with the Minister herself as to how best to influence the political will of the Wizengamut and then implement the decisions taken. Both men were glad this political aspect wasn’t part of their remit.

Opening the ante-room door Ron nodded to Olivia Parkinson who, in response to Ron’s “Is he in?”, nodded him through. It was tricky and Ron was tense. He knew that Little Whinging was where Harry had lived as a boy. No backtrack that statement, where he’d suffered as a boy. He was about to ask Harry if he would mind going back, this despite both Harry outranking him and with the looming possibility of the trauma of revisiting the place. However, Ron’s reasoning was that Harry’s local knowledge would probably assist in tracking down who, or what, was behind the incidents. After a brief discussion of the facts with Ron, Harry agreed to read through the file and would at least consider that as an option after he’d read it.

After Ron had gone Harry sat for a few minutes in silence. Little Whinging brought back bad-memories, but he’d faced much worse. It did take him a few minutes to gather his thoughts, fight down some emotions, but eventually he checked the file. It was hardly surprising that the locations were familiar to him, but not so close to the locations of his worst memories as to deter his attendance. He put the site visit in his diary for the following day, enough time to prepare, but not long enough for worries to fester. His one concession to the unexpected file, was to leave the office much earlier than usual, wishing Olivia a good night, and saying he would not be in-first thing, adding that Ron would know where he was if anything cropped up in his absence.

Harry knew he needed the evening to gather his thoughts, discuss it with Ginny, convince himself he could deal with it. He’d not been back to Little Whinging since Arabella Figg’s funeral a few years earlier. Mercifully for Harry’s then mental state, none of the Dursleys had attended the Crematorium for the service. During the early stages of the war Petunia had discovered Arabella’s connections to the wizarding world, and that her baby-sitting and child minding for Harry had not been entirely altruistic. Born a squib Arabella may not have been a witch, but in Petunia’s eyes she had suddenly become tainted. Harry guessed Petunia’s time in hiding from the Death Eaters had killed all traces of his aunt’s earlier apparent friendship with Arabella Figg, but he was wrong, in fact it had mellowed her slightly towards wizarding kind. Petunia had actually liked dear old Mrs Figg and, despite finding out about Arabella’s magical parents, she had considered attending to say a last goodbye; however, there was no way she was going to give Vernon even the slightest hint that she was still in contact with the world of magic. 

Harry was oblivious to how close he’d been to meeting Petunia at that funeral, or of the deep undercurrent of change Petunia and Vernon’s death had released on the unsuspecting Surrey community. Invisible mental shackles had been severed, barriers were broken which took time to dissolve, the ripples began, and once put in motion they were to spread far and wide.


	2. Harry takes a case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The case of the unauthorised magic forces Harry to face his demons and revisit Little Whinging.

Given the length of time since he’d last been to Little Whinging Harry decided apparating into the village might be problematic. Apparating into something that had physically changed from what was in your memory was always a risk. Getting splinched across an unexpected wall was a risk Harry could definitely avoid, and so took the muggle train. At least this time he wasn't taking the round-the-houses route he’d done when he was eleven. Hagrid had taken him to Diagon Alley to get his Hogwarts supplies, before irresponsibly disappearing to the pub and leaving a geographically disorientated Harry to make his own way home. Paddington may be a fine station, but Waterloo has the direct trains into Surrey.

Just over an hour later, Harry had walked the short distance from the station down into what had been the thriving village centre, now the only business still open was a pub. He’d expected to see the Post Office and the Polkiss’ general stores, both had been open when he’d lived in the village. Now, in their place, was an active building site with hoardings advertising new apartments “For the on the rise executive”. The lack of the store killed his first intended line of investigation, to mooch about inside in the hope he might just overhear a conversation about oddness, whilst at the same time planting one of George Weasley’s latest tracker bugs. George still kept Weasleys Wizard Wheezes going, it was too much of a goldmine to close, but since the war the comedic buzz he’d got from making devices for new jolly japes and pranks with Fred had passed. These days he worked as much on new secret devices to sell to the Ministry as on expanding his range of joke products. The profits were just as lucrative, the memories the work invoked less harrowing.

Harry had known from the moment he’d left Waterloo that today was the day he would have to face Privett Drive, this adjustment to his plan just brought confronting his demons that bit closer. Despite it being the school-holidays he left the tracker at the bus stop by the primary school, thinking it would still be the main stop for the village, just as it always had been. Strangely, the school still being there was reassuring. True Dudley’s gang had bullied him, but his other memories were of some kindness towards him. The teachers and dinner staff had thought him weird, but, looking back with the experience of an adult, he now saw that his appearance of neglect had worried them. The bits of help he’d received, the larger food portions and the occasional change of clothes, had been the only warmth he’d received from most adults before he left Little Whinging for Hogwarts. 

It was as he began the walk from his old school towards Privett Drive that he detected the first spot where magic had been done. Confirmation of what the Ministry detectors had picked up, but an irregularity. It felt like adult magic, but unexpectedly rough and untrained. It was his type of magic, that which naturally flows from the body of a wizard. He could tell the difference between that from other members of the fae, fairies, goblins and the like, and also isolate out Newtonian, crafted, magic. This was none of those alternatives, this was undoubtedly natural, yet with a power that could only be from an adult, untrained wizard. 

He now had a dilemma. There shouldn't be any untrained adult wizards; what with the Ministry’s own detector processes and those run independently by the Hogwarts School, by the age of eleven all wizards should be in formal, registered, magical education. Whether that was at Hogwarts, at one of the overseas schools, or via an approved programme of home tuition, didn't matter, they were supposed to be training within the registered and regulated processes. The muggles had OFTSED, via the influence of muggleborns entering the ministry since the war the wizarding world now had their equivalent in REGWIZ. That an adult could be generating magic, and outside the auspices of REGWIZ, was, to the best of Harry’s knowledge something new. New not only to him but also, and worryingly so, to the Auror Service’s knowledge generally.

As he walked on there were more spots of residual magical traces; or what the Newtonian practitioners call vestigia. After a few minutes he decided to try a side road, there were no more traces. He turned back and continued towards Privett Drive. The strength of the vestigial hot-spots now greater, the trace continuous. As he reached the corner and turned into Privett Drive itself, he felt not only the vestigia, but a burst of active magic. Magic he could both detect and just knew was coming from number 4. That house was the last place in the universe where Harry would ever have anticipated having to engage in a magical investigation.

He instinctively knew he needed back up, both muggle and magical. One of the changes for the better in Harry’s modernisation of the Office for Magical Law Enforcement (MLE) was that they now did occasionally liaise with the outside world. In this instance the former action required a telephone, the second his two-way mirror to contact Olivia, back in his office at the Ministry. 

As muggle transport would be the slower option, he removed his mobile phone, slid the battery back in, and dialled a branch of the muggle police service called The Folly. There was still some resentment around in the old families that Hermione Granger, a mudblood, was now Minister of Magic but when it came to change her upbringing meant she saw the operational benefits of occasional liaison with muggles, and was supportive. Harry’s call was answered, but with silence, Harry knew that must be Molly, so he left a message asking for either Peter Grant or Thomas Nightingale to ring him back as soon as possible as he had a suspected Falcon incident in progress in Little Whinging. 

That done he addressed the wizarding angle. Despite Ron’s Auror training Harry felt he would be too hasty with dealing with whatever, or whoever, was inside his old house, therefore he contacted Draco Malfoy. Draco was a Ministry employee, albeit in the Potions Development Team, but with necessary clearance levels for field investigative work. The PDT was the nearest thing the Ministry had to a CSI/forensics network therefore Harry and Draco often worked together. Whilst their personal relationship was still somewhat cold, professionally they gelled; Draco was always calm under pressure, just what this scenario required. As for Harry, he really hoped Draco would not be so involved in an experimental brew that he could not apparate over. Luckily Draco was free and was shortly standing alongside Harry looking across at 4 Privett Drive.

When a few minutes later Harry got the call back the ringtone from his mobile startled Draco. Since the war Draco was less isolated and so he now knew what muggle phones were, it was just that for obvious reasons he still didn’t get much experience of using them.  
“Grant here, Falcon team.”  
“Hi. Thanks for the call back. Potter here from the Auror Team at the Ministry, and am at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging. We’re monitoring an incident in progress that might be ours, might be yours. It is definitely magical, but it has some new developments. If you can get over here quickly it will be very helpful; unless the situation escalates to problem levels we will just monitor the situation and delay doing anything about going in until you are on site.’  
“No problem, we will be over as fast as.”  
With that Peter Grant cut the call.

Just over half an hour later a Jaguar salon arrived on scene carrying the DSs Grant and Guleed together with their DCI, Thomas Nightingale.


	3. Meanwhile ….. Dudley’s story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dudley's magic had been suppressed for three decades, its outpouring was causing serious problems.

Ever since his parents’ death Dudley Dursley had been feeling odd, not only did he feel odd but strange things were happening when he was around. Strange things he’d not thought of in over a decade, not since he been dragged off by those mad people telling them there was a war on. He thought of Harry, his just younger cousin, these oddities were similar to the things that had happened to Harry. But he couldn’t contact Harry, he had no idea of his address. His parents had shackled him so firmly with the millstone of ordinariness, he struggled to express his own personality. 

As a boy that repression had exploded out as bullying. His time with the wizards during the war had changed him. As a war veteran he’d matured, but with that maturity came emotional pressure. Out of loyalty to his parents he kept his feelings bottled up, he knew bullying was bad, so he stored his emotions. It was still happening, the more he panicked about these newly occurring oddities, the more he thought about his neighbours seeing the oddities, of them thinking of him as a freak, the more frequently they happened. It kept him single, he wasn’t gay, but he daren’t get emotionally involved with a girl, in case he let slip details of the magical world. How could he explain his past?

The changes first began on the way back from the funeral. He was upset and stressed; going much faster than the limit he shot past the forgotten speed camera, it dutifully flashed him. He swore and glowered at it in his rear-view mirror, only to see it unexpectedly burst into flames. A few days later as he rode up in the lift at work ready to start the day he automatically checked his reflection in the mirror. He noticed that he’d forgotten his tie; ten seconds later a tie was properly adorning his neck. The latest event had been only this morning, he’d gone for a run around the block, trying to burn off some of his boiling emotions and it had begun to rain, heavy rain, the drenching in seconds kind of rainstorm, but, as if he was running in a bubble, he stayed dry!

It couldn’t be magic. Harry was magical. Harry had got a letter, years ago before, he Dudley, had gone to Smeltings, if you were magical you got a letter on your eleventh birthday. Harry’s Mum had been a witch, his own mother had hated her for it, for getting that letter when she hadn’t. His father, he’d had apoplexy if the M word was even mentioned, but from all that had gone on during the war when they been on the run Dudley did know magic existed. It was just he couldn’t see how these things that were happening around him could be magic, even if they were magic then it couldn’t be him doing it. How he could have magic?

He was at his wits end. What was the point in knowing there was a Ministry of Magic if it didn’t even have a phone book listing, let alone a webpage? He’d tried all the web directories for a trace of an address for a Harry Potter, with no luck. The last time he’d seen his cousin Harry he’d tried to make amends for the earlier years. There had been a bit of a scene; he remembered challenging his father for once, but a croaked, ‘I don’t think you’re a waste of space’ and a handshake was all he could recall managing to muster. Then they’d been rushed away, leaving Harry to fight in the war. The war had been a nightmare, his parents refusing to see what was happening in front of their eyes, Dudley trying to act as go between, until finally hearing on the radio it was over. Not only over but somehow his cousin Harry had finished it all off by killing the chief villain himself. 

Dudley was sitting in the kitchen at No.4, not knowing that Harry was outside - leaning forward against the table he let his head rest on his hands and began to sob. His brain was whirling and he had a headache, the world around him no longer made any sense to him, but he had no one to talk to about it. How could he go to a Doctor and say “I think I have become magical how do I channel it?” If they believed he believed it they would most probably Section him, as being mentally unstable if they didn’t believe him they’d probably Section him anyway, as anyone believing that magic really exists can’t be right in the head.*

Dudley knew that Mouldywarp, “or whatever his real name had been”, was dead, and that Harry had killed him. How could his little cousin have killed someone? The thought he’d bullied a killer just made his thoughts churn faster, and as they span and churned, a little bit more of his magic escaped. His next-door neighbour had a noisy motorbike, he chose to fire it up at just the wrong moment. At the first burst of noise, both cylinder heads exploded, that bike was going nowhere. 

Dudley didn’t even notice. Across the street all five of the watching team had been alert for some time. Sensing the release of magic Draco and Harry decided that incident was the trigger for action. The Met’s databases had listed the only registered occupant as a Mr Dudley Dursley. Thinking that Dudley still had no magic their assumption was he was in danger, someone else had to be in the house with him despite the fact none of them could detect the presence inside No. 4 of more than one body. If there was another force to be overcome it was either already possessing Dudley or was incorporeal: accordingly, they’d already thought of the plan. Harry was to knock on the door with the others flanking him just out of sight. The idea being that, hopefully, Dudley, or whatever else was also inside, would open the door quietly, without further problems. Harry did however make sure his own shield charms were in place before he knocked. The others to either side did the same; on the one side Guleed sheltered behind Draco, on the other Grant and Nightingale flattened themselves against the wall. 

When Dudley opened the door and saw his cousin Harry on the step the shock on his face was hardly describable. Dudley recovered the faster and he grasped Harry into a sudden hug, which was so quick that a totally surprised Harry let him do it. That surprise, and recognition the hug was from a family member, highlighted a flaw in the charms Harry had chosen for his bodily protection. Later Harry hoped no one else had realised that it was more luck than foresight which had prevented him being stabbed. Dudley could have had a hidden knife, perhaps stab-vests were a muggle technology the Auror service could assimilate.  
“Thank God you’re here Harry.” He gasped, then simply collapsed onto the floor sobbing.  
Harry indicated to the others with a flat hand gesture that all was well, then bent down and helped the still sobbing Dudley to his feet. He steered Dudley into the kitchen, beckoning in the rest of the team to sit around the table. 

This situation needed tea, lots of strong tea; after all this was one kitchen where Harry knew exactly where everything was stored. However, he did flip the teabags into the cups, boil the water for the tea with a quick heating charm, and pour it without leaving his seat. Taking his lead DS Peter Grant levitated the milk from the fridge, after all whatever natural wizards could do the Newtonians could equal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * For non-UK readers to be Sectioned refers to an individual being taken into protective care under a Section of our British mental health legislation.  
> 


	4. Vernon the possible Ogre?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Investigations into what was happening and why continue. The Folly meets up with the Ministry of Magic and Dudley's magic is confirmed.

Dudley calmed down and they all began to discuss what had been going on. No crime had been committed so Dudley was not cautioned or placed under arrest. As the general conversation about was going on evolved Dudley suddenly realised that although Harry knew he was living here on his own, he didn’t already know that his Aunt and Uncle had been killed. When Harry heard the news in a weird twist he felt sorry for Dudley’s loss, whilst at the same time feeling relieved for himself that there was finally closure, but he was not upset on his own behalf.

Harry and Draco were puzzled, they hoped Peter & Thomas might have a clue as to what may have occurred. Harry had briefly worked with The Folly before, he understood that they had a wider knowledge of the fae than was ever taught at Hogwarts. The Ministry did tend to stick its’ collective head in the sand when it came to other magical forms. Although Harry was able to confirm that his mother, Dudley’s Aunt had been a witch, it was clear they needed more information on Dudley’s genealogical background. Harry knew hs other was a muggleborn but had no idea of Vernon’s ancestry. All agreed Guleed could do this research much more easily back at base. The rest of The Folly team agreed they should stay and help in the magical mystery solving, however, Guleed called in for a local force squad car to pick her up and run her back to the railway station. 

Both magical teams worked on the scene independently, it wasn’t what the muggles would call CSI forensics work, but was a magical equivalent. The two policemen from The Folly could not sense any Newtonian magic signares, other than from Peter’s recent activity, and therefore conceded this wasn’t going to be case for them other than offering any assistance they could where their resources might help. For their part, as a result of trying several analysis spells and charms, Draco and Harry were soon convinced that Dudley had wizarding powers. Although as yet not knowing why, clearly, somehow, he had not been identified as magical at his birth. Equally clear was that the subsequent development of his magical core, had not occurred until recently. That development process for most wizards showed up in accidental magic during their formative years, which in turn set the timing of the invites to Hogwarts sent out to eleven-year olds. Eleven was the age by which the accidental bursts of magic were in need of structured management and formal training. 

After a lot of pointless discussion it was Draco who made the breakthrough suggestion - “Could Vernon have been an Ogre?”  
Nightingale responded that he did have a vague recollection of a similar case, but it would need more research to validate.  
Both Harry and Peter were baffled, it was Peter that just beat Harry to the question they had both thought.  
“Ok. Assuming Ogres exist, which both of you appear to agree is the case, what’s their significance? Obviously they aren’t nice beings, every folk tale that mentions them treats them as bad creatures but what specifics?”  
Dudley spluttered out “I know Dad was an arsehole, he treated Harry like s**t and both Mum and I were at times scared of him, but wasn’t he human?”  
It was Draco that had both the poise, and the bottle, to answer.  
“Harry knows this already but to help the rest of you understand you need to know that my family has been on the fringe of the darker side of magic for centuries. The war changed me. I’m not the man my father was nor what he expected of me but I did learn a lot outside Hogwarts that is from the darker side. A description of ogres isn’t in any of the magical creatures books generally available. Growing up with access to the rare books held in our library at Malfoy Manor like any boy I sought out the books my parents clearly didn’t want me to see. Regarding ogres I understand there is a genetic strand running through wizard-kind that is able to suppress goodness. Rather like with the magic occurrences in muggle-borns the incidence of ogre-ism is not always predictable in the way it flows down through lineage. My suspicions are that Dudley has inherited his muggle-born magic through the same linage that Harry’s mother Lily did, albeit it missed a generation with Petunia, and at the same time in Vernon the ogre-ism was at maximum severity. Vernon’s power would so suppress Dudley’s it wasn’t until his father had been killed that his own magical core had a chance to grow.”  
Nightingale quickly interceded, “I’m sure there will be something in the County Practitioner records, if you are OK we will head back and begin the research. Glad to work with you again Harry.” 

Dudley, Draco and Harry heard the Jaguar depart and for a few minutes just sat in stunned silence. It was Harry that was first to break the silence.  
“OK, Draco I got what you said about Vernon, it even makes a sort of sense, but if it so flattened Dudley’s magic why not mine too?”  
“To be honest Harry, only a guess, but I’ve heard on the grapevine you were Voldemort’s unexpected horcrux. If that is true, I guess that piece of latent power from a fully established wizard was enough to offset the suppression. Please don’t take this as an example of my old spouting of pure-blood nonsense but alternatively your infant magic may have been inherently stronger anyway as both your parents had their own magic.”  
“Draco, regarding the horcrux that is a yes, and likewise please keep this a secret between you both, I was the unintended horcrux he didn’t know about.”  
Into the resultant silence Harry spoke to his cousin, “So Dudders, now that you’ve joined us, what the f**k are we going to do about sorting you out some training?”  
“What’s a horcrux?’ asked a subdued Dudley. “Sounds bad, and what’s dark magic? If Dad was an ogre then at least I now know he couldn’t help himself in being such a monumental arsehole all his life. I know he loved us in his way, it’s just that magic was too much for him.”

“Harry,” asked Draco, “How come you called in those two muggle cops, how come they know about magic? What’s Newtonian magic?”  
“Let’s have another brew and go into the other room. I think today is one for mending bridges, there is so much to catch up on. You Ok with that Big D?’  
“Fine by me cousin”.

For the first time ever in all his years at 4 Privet Drive Harry and Dudley sat in the front room, sharing the sofa without argument, and for the first time since the Battle of Hogwarts Draco and Harry felt a togetherness. It wasn’t yet the beginning of friendship between them but was definitely a final end to their years of bitterness and rivalry. As they sat down Harry suddenly realised that although Draco already knew Dudley was Harry’s cousin, from the other side all Dudley knew of Draco was that he was a colleague of Harry’s. Dudley wouldn’t even know Harry worked for the Ministry of Magic in the equivalent of a muggle CID team. He therefore quickly did the round of introductions and went through to make more tea.


	5. More is revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightingale is forced to finally reveal to Peter that Hogwarts did exist all along; his denials were down to "need to know" and his keeping faith with their Statute of Secrecy.

On his return with a tray of tea and a plate of shortbread biscuits Harry began to explain.  
“Ok this needs to be taken in a sort of order that will make sense to the both of you. Dudley , if it is OK with you I will leave the dark magic and horcrux thing ‘till last.”  
He poured each of them a cup of tea as it gave him time to gather his thoughts.  
“Right then to answer your question Draco, about why did I call in those specific cops and not just the locals? It’s complicated from an official angle but at the same time simple to explain. The Metropolitan Police have a branch of the force that deals with magical beings and magical activities. I first found that out a few years ago when I had a case that involved squibs making mayhem in both the muggle and magical worlds. I’ve jointly worked with them since on a few cases although, as yet, there isn’t an established official liaison process but we are working on it. That is the simple bit. 

Where it gets complicated is the agreements, one of which Dudley is the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy that’s been in place since the late 1600s. Draco of course already knows that, but, as Hogwarts is pretty poor about teaching muggle science, probably doesn’t know much about Isaac Newton. At about the same time as the secrecy statute came about Newton began to discover ways in which muggles can channel a form of wandless magic and established what is today known as The Folly to teach and regulate it. Although in many ways independently funded The Folly is now part of the Metropolitan Police which is where the cops I called work from.

Between the Ministry and The Folly most magical things are regulated but neither side covers everything. To be honest I think The Folly are probably more accepting of us than our side is of them.”

Dudley looked stunned, whilst Draco thoughtful. Hoping that at the very least Draco would contribute something extra Harry paused, sipped his tea, and took a biscuit.

Draco decided that it would be fairer to Harry if he took over to explain the dark side. After taking a deep breath he spoke “I know you know about the war Dudley so you also know there was a bad wizard. It isn’t for me to outline Harry’s part in that, you will have to let him tell you himself what he wants you to know.”  
“I know Harry killed Mouldyvort, or whatever his name was. Found that out when we were brought back here. That was the last day I had any contact with wizards until today.” Dudley interjected. “That secrecy statute is stupid, I really wanted to thank Harry, say sorry, couldn’t.”

For Harry the outburst was so completely unexpected, he found he couldn’t respond.

“Can you tell me more Draco, please?”  
“Well then you already know there was a dark-side in the war, Voldemort was the leader of it, and he and his followers carried out many, many atrocities. Unfortunately, my family was on the wrong side and I’m not going to go into either that, or how far into it I got embroiled. What it does mean though is that I know there are many magical practices known as the dark arts. There are far too many to describe, but one, creating a horcrux, is a way of splitting your soul into extra parts so that you can’t die until all the parts are destroyed. Voldemort created several deliberately, and one accidentally. You may, or may not, already know that he killed Harry’s parents. They didn’t die in a car crash, that was a lie created by your parents to avoid Harry learning about magic.” 

Draco paused for a breath and to use that short moment to gather his thoughts. “The truth is that Voldemort murdered them. When he fired the killing spell at Harry’s mother, your Aunt Lilly, it did kill her, but the spell rebounded and also hit him. He’d already made several of the deliberate horcruxes by that point so didn’t die outright that night; however, the rebound further splintered his soul and a piece was bounced onto Harry leaving a scar. That scar on Harry’s forehead was a part of the soul of arguably the most powerful, and darkest, wizard ever to have lived. I am hazarding a guess that it fed and amplified your father’s ogre-ism and blanketed out your own magic, whilst at the same time being inherently protective of Harry’s.”  
“So has my father’s death released my magic? Does this mean I’m a wizard, what my Dad called a freak? S**t!”  
“Yes”, said Harry, “Not a freak” said Draco, their words, being almost simultaneous and overlapping.

* * *

In the car heading back into Central London Nightingale’s driving was taking more than a few liberties with the rules of the road; he was a skilled driver, the Jag’ could take the speed and the swerving in and out of the various lanes, but it was doing nothing for the state of Peter’s nerves. When they hit heavier traffic on the approach to Richmond and of necessity had slowed to a safe crawl Peter finally took the opportunity to ask Thomas how he knew all about Harry Potter? He also asked could he, the Nightingale, confirm that the person they’d just met is actually that Harry Potter, the very same Harry Potter of Hogwarts fame he’d always claimed he knew bugger all about?

“Ah,” said Nightingale, “Yes he is that Harry Potter, there is an agreement between us, informal and personal, but all the stronger for that. I couldn’t tell you. I’ve wanted to, hoped it would come up in a case, like it finally has today. Even Lady Ty doesn’t know that I know about the Ministry of Magic’s Auror division and we are not going to tell her are we! You can tell Bev, I know you wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret from her anyway, but not Abigail and definitely not any of the other Rivers.”  
“So how did you meet?”  
“Another complication. I first heard of Harry, but not fully what he was, back in 1991. There was a case of a missing snake from Bristol Zoo, and I got involved in it as there was a suspicion it was falcon related. It was falcon related as it turned out. Potter had been there on a day trip with his guardians, cousin and another boy. Very shortly afterwards, the whole household from 4 Privet Drive disappeared. Alex’ Seawoll was a newly promoted DI back then, he got involved too as he’d just transferred up from Bristol and knew the background on the case, plus there was also Dolores Umbridge, and what a horrible little shrew of a witch from the Ministry she was. It all fizzled out in the end from my perspective. Yes, magic of some kind had been involved, but nothing criminal was ever discovered regarding the snake’s disappearance. When the family turned up again the MISPER case was also closed, although parts of it got passed over to Social Services. As for them I got the impression no one there believed the allegations.” 

With traffic on the move again Thomas concentrated for a few minutes on getting around the traffic bottleneck in Richmond itself and on the move again towards Chiswick without getting scrapes on the side of the Jag’. Once rolling again, albeit fairly sedately up the A316 through Mortlake, he continued to explain. 

Sorry about that Peter, needed to concentrate. What I will say though is that Dolores Umbridge is why Alex is so uptight about the weird bollocks, but only a truly stupid fool will be daft enough to ask him why! I know you are curious about everything Peter, but I also know you are not that much of a fool. The Rowling woman has, somehow, found out quite a lot about what went on, more than we ever got for our files, but how much of that is true, how much she made up for the books, I’ve no idea.”  
“So how, and when, did you first get to meet the adult Harry Potter?”, asked the ever-inquisitive Peter, considering that question probably was safe ground despite his boss’s previous denials.  
“A couple of linked cases around 2005 or 2006 if I recall. The first was when a Scottish forestry worker reported seeing a random blue Ford Anglia, apparently driverless, but crashing through his woods and the second a week or two later was an infestation of massive spiders in the same bit of forest. I worked with Harry as he was on the Auror team sent up to the school and it all got resolved and we’ve worked together on a few more cases since. This one though is the first time since you became my apprentice that he’s called me to ask a favour. Also I don’t think Harry knows I was involved in those two cases involving him when he was a boy and I’m not going to risk messing things up by telling him. I did meet Vernon Dursley back then, and if Harry’s colleague Draco Malfoy thinks he was an ogre, then he probably was. Although a lot of time has passed since I met the man nothing Malfoy said today is in conflict with what I remember of Vernon Dursley.”

By the time they turned the Jaguar into the coachyard of The Folly Peter was satisfied as to why Thomas had kept his knowledge of the existence of the wizarding world from him and for his part Thomas was glad that Peter now knew of the existence of the Ministry of Magic. The interactions between the Folly and the Ministry were rare, but two brains were going to be better than one, when future cases overlapped.

As they climbed out of the car their first task was to grab a coffee and then get something to eat, the second to head for the library. Nightingale had been taken aback by the mention of ogres as a real element of the fae. They were a new one for him, he hoped that somewhere in the old County Practitioner records they were recorded, and they would find out how to deal with them. Any creature that could suppress magic was a force to be reckoned with. You didn’t want to meet one blind to its powers and devoid of tactics!


	6. Training Dudley.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A solution is found as the post-Voldemort wizarding world encompasses yet another muggle concept Adult Education Colleges.

The situation facing the two Ministry wizards was a total dog’s dinner of a problem. With what had subsequently occurred here Harry knew he had been right earlier in deciding to call in Draco for back-up and not Ron. Ron really could not have coped. Despite the time that had passed since the war, when it came to dealing with any of the individual people he’d personally interacted with during the war he was still too emotionally entangled. In most contemporary cases he was fine, the after effects of the war, manageable. No, Ron would have not been able to see that Dudley had changed, accept that Vernon had been the problem. Draco, on the other hand had faced the demons his own father had imposed on his upbringing. Harry and Draco were not close friends, too much had gone before, friendship was unlikely in the near future, but they were now on speaking terms and able to work together as colleagues.

The other advantage to bringing Draco today was that he wasn’t an Auror, his thoughts would not be overlaid by the constraints of legal protocols. His background made him better suited to solutions that were unorthodox, not illegal per-se, but somewhere on the fringes. He also saw perspectives from the position of a very wealthy family, Harry, still unaccustomed to the Potter wealth he had inherited, was still getting used to the idea that, for the rich, absolutely anything could be bought. 

After Draco had finished answering Dudley’s question there was a silence, all three men finding it difficult to comprehend the new reality. For a while the only sound was the quiet chink of tea cups being replaced on saucers and, from outside, the distant drone of aircraft departing Heathrow.

It was Harry who eventually broke the silence. “Dudley this going to take time to untangle. Can you remember when I accidentally pumped up your Aunt Marge and she floated around like a balloon? Well your magical core is as untrained now as mine was back then. The problem is you have the fully developed power of an adult but with absolutely no idea of how to control it.”  
“What can I do to learn?”  
“Yes, that is the real problem here”, Draco interjected at this point, “How do we get you trained? That speed camera you exploded, without training you’d be forever doing similar things”  
“What do you do for a job?”, Harry asked.  
“I’m a design technician in the IT section at Grunnings” he replied, “Dad insisted I worked in the company. It was easier to just give in. You know what he was like Harry. Once he’d made up his mind disagreeing with him was like trying to stop a bulldozer. Thing is though there is no way I was ever going to agree to work with him in Sales. Computers seemed the easiest option to comply, but still avoid him at the same time. The biggest factor in making my mind up back then was that IT team is based in a different building!” For Draco, still ignorant of almost everything muggle, the description of what Dudley did was total gobbledegook. 

All three of them remained silent, thinking about a possible solution. Dudley was in panic, part of him glad that there was an explanation for the odd things that had arisen, the other part fearful for what it would mean in the long-term. Harry felt this was an intractable problem, almost as complex to figure out as the mermaid clue from the tri-wizard tournament, which in turn made him wish it was as simple as getting past a dragon. In many ways it was, although they didn’t realise it. They were missing the significance that with Vernon and Petunia dead, the biggest barrier to training Dudley in magic had disappeared. It therefore fell to Draco to find an angle on the problem; the other two were too lost in off-topic thoughts to be rational. Luckily Draco was still thinking rationally.  
“What about the Hogwarts muggle born fund, Harry? I know Dudley is now considerably older than the eleven-year old’s it normally aids but his circumstances fit.”  
“That still raises the training issue though Draco.” was Harry’s reply.  
“It is not as if the Ministry Headquarters can train him, the few trainers we do employ don’t teach basic stuff.”

Dudley listened whilst Harry and Draco bounced ideas off each other, each idea became even more zanier than their last dismissed suggestion, some of the suggestions did actually address the issue in hand but none solved the key problem. After a short-while he wandered through to the kitchen to make more drinks, leaving the other two to continue their fruitless conversation. He was washing the mugs and waiting for the kettle to boil when he saw Janice, the teacher from next door, walk down the back alley on her return from the local college. The one idea he hadn’t heard the wizards mention was going to college. Putting his head back into the front room he asked, “Do you wizards not do Adult Education Colleges?” 

Draco again had no clue what Dudley had meant, for Harry it was a light-bulb moment. “Draco. Why don’t we ask McGonagal if Hogwarts could do an adult out-reach programme for Dudley?” It would also be useful for the wizards who left Hogwarts with bad grades back in the day or were forced to quit during the war. Many probably now need to re-train, or just get new skills, add in the latest spells. Dudley is right, it is something quite big in the muggle world that we just don’t do. We could also add in options for squibs to assist with working in the liaison jobs.”

It took very little to persuade Hermione of the benefits of adding this tier of training and for the Ministry to fund it, all it lacked was a supply of teaching materials. When, a few days later Harry and Draco approached Minerva McGonagle, the Head of Hogwarts she was enthusiastic and the project planning began in earnest almost immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story now complete; however, it will be proof read again and chapter summaries added. Some edits therefore still likely. Last updated 12th March 2021.

**Author's Note:**

> COPYRIGHT STATEMENT - All references to JKR's Harry Potter characters, scenarios and locations are recognised as the intellectual property of J K Rowling and her subsequent publishers. The various works in the Rivers of London series (Ben Aaronovitch), are also fully acknowledged on the same basis. No commercial benefits are being accrued or claimed. However, any and all originally created material within this work remains mine


End file.
